This invention relates generally to a machine for recycling textile materials such as threads, fabric, and the like, into reusable fibers.
Often in textile manufacturing it becomes necessary to scrap products for one reason or another. For example, it could be that the products, once manufactured, did not meet the desired specifications, or perhaps, the product was not as marketable as anticipated. Because such scrap products may not readily be reworked or reprocessed, they may be sold as scrap for a fraction of their potential value, or disposed of altogether. Disposing of the scrap products is undesirable in that disposal costs are incurred, and additional valuable landfill space may be consumed.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a method and means for recycling textile products back into reusable fibers. By way of background, textile products typically begin as fibers which are then subsequently spun into yarns. The yarns are then woven or knitted, or used in a non-woven arrangement, to make fabric for clothing, upholstery, linens, medical products, etc., or for making textile products such as carpets, rugs, floor coverings, wall coverings, window treatments, etc. In making such textile products, the fibers are often subjected to dyes, sizing, coatings, and other chemical treatments. In the case of carpets, rugs, upholstery, and the like, plastic, rubber, jute, or other backings, underlayments, or interlining materials, may be attached to the fibers. Because of these additional substances which may be incorporated on the fibers in making textile products, such products, once produced, have oftentimes not heretofore been recyclable in a desirable manner on an industrial scale.
Various machines have been patented in the attempt to recycle yarns and fabrics. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,914, issued to Winch et al., discloses a process and apparatus for treating fibrous materials for subsequent processing and includes use of rolls having teeth thereon in connection with carding plates having toothed clothing thereon for opening fibers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,908, also issued to Winch et al., discloses a similar device.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,094 and 3,797,073, both issued to Fairfield, disclose equipment for processing tangled thread waste. U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,680, issued to Holloway, Jr. et al., discloses a device for processing yarn, cord, and fabric. U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,801, issued to Heifetz, discloses a process for recycling yarns and other spun textile waste.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,864, issued to Wright, discloses a cloth scrap recycling method involving moistening fiber scraps prior to opening and blending with virgin fibers. Textile Yarns--Technology, Structure, and Applications (pages 313-314) discusses processing of hard waste, which includes a machine for opening material by loosening and disentangling waste thread.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,196, issued to Wise et al., discloses a machine for opening waste fibers such as cotton, wool, and asbestos. U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,530, issued to Platt, discloses a device for converting non-woven fabric into staple fibers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,217, issued to Bernhardts et al., discloses a carder for forming matted non-woven materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,377, issued to Morel, discloses a machine which shreds textile wastes to obtain fibers for making threads, insulation, padding, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,266, issued to Brown, Jr. et al., discloses a device for processing waste roving.
The present invention seeks to provide not only a process and machinery for recycling yarns into reusable fibers, but also for recycling finished textile products, such as woven and non-woven fabrics, carpeting, upholstery, hard thread waste (yarns to which sizing or other coating has been applied), and the like, on a mechanized basis. In one preferred embodiment discussed in detail below, carding plates, or segments, are used having granular carding surfaces in a novel manner.
Granular carding surfaces have been patented. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 133,638, issued to Ferguson, shows a rub roller for a carding machine, wherein the rub roller includes a covering of sand, emery, or other suitable granular surface. U.S. Pat. No. 3,057,020, issued to McLeod, discloses use of granular carding medium as a covering for revolving carding flats. U.S. Pat. No. 2,879,549, issued to Miller et al., discloses a carding device wherein granular surfaces are provided on carding flats. U.S. Pat. No. 1,235,949, issued to Whitin, discloses a cotton reclamation waste process utilizing a carding machine having a plurality of rolls.
As set forth below, the present invention's use of granular carding surfaces provides new potential to the recycling of textile products.